Since this seems to be a fairly recent problem with the Sparex, perhaps they have changed their source to a different one which has some different contaminants in it which are causing the problem????
G’day; Some may remember that I have mentioned this before, but here
we go again: Sodium bisulphate, sold as Sparex and Pool pH Adjuster
is a simple chemical but not to my knowledge, found in nature. It is
usually obtained as a by product in the manufacture of hydrochloric
acid. Concentrated sulphuric acid is strongly heated with sodium
chloride and the result is hydrochloric acid gas which is passed into
water to give a 37.5% solution, and the residue is sodium bisulphate.
(H2SO4 + NaCl + HCl + NaHSO4) As thousands of tonnes of hydrochloric
acid are made annually, it is obvious that the manufacturers are avid
for someone to buy their by-product - at whatever price they can get -
which would be hard to get rid of properly. And why chuck it away if
you can persuade someone to buy it? So the pool suppliers probably
buy a good deal of it, and jewellery suppliers and a few laboratory
suppliers use some, some is sold as kettle descaler and some as
toilet bowl cleaner - de liming when you have very ‘hard’ water. I’ve
no idea what happens to the rest - into the nearest river??? (I’m a
cynic where big business is concerned) I strongly suspect that some
partly awake person who made up the cartons of Sparex must have messed
it up somehow. God only knows what that person did to it, and She’s
not going to tell… What to do? Get rid of it and get some pool pH
adjuster; it’s cheap enough, or use citric acid, or 10% sulphuric acid
like I do. Cheers and don’t get yourselves in a pickle. –
John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of Mapua Nelson NZ